Complex Trauma, Complex Triggers
Many of us are very familiar with the concepts of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recently, though, you may also have heard about complex trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). What exactly is complex trauma and where did this concept come from?
Complex Trauma
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The concept of trauma can cover a wide range of experiences. It can refer to events that are acute, limited in duration, or perhaps only occurred once. These include events such as car accidents, rapes, or muggings. Trauma can also refer to events that are re-occurring and continue for long periods of time. Being abused throughout your childhood, domestic violence that occurs for years, or living in a combat zone or concentration camp for long periods of time are examples of long-term, repeating traumatic events.
Complex trauma describes the latter experience. It occurs when you are exposed to traumatic events again and again for months or years or even decades. The concept of complex trauma has been around for a while, but it has become more well-known since the late 1980’s.
In 1988, a psychiatrist by the name of Judith Herman suggested that there was need for a diagnosis for individuals who experience long-term trauma. This is because complex trauma can effect individuals differently than acute trauma.
Why It’s Different
Complex trauma occurs over long periods of time. Events or persons outside of your control have hijacked significant portions of your entire life making it impossible for you to escape the trauma. Because of this, it has the ability to significantly rewire your brain, alter your personality, and even significantly affect your development.
People who experience complex trauma are also likely to have difficulties in many other areas of their lives. These include impairments such as those seen below:
Information for the above table was taken from this article.
Complex trauma is named as such because the events and the results are often much more complex than acute or simple trauma. While many experts agree that complex trauma is a unique type of trauma to warrants a unique diagnosis, the DSM-V does not yet provide or allow for the diagnosis of CPTSD. This means that in the U.S. a person will not usually be diagnosed with CPTSD even if the diagnosis is warranted. Its absence from the DSM-V, though, does not mean complex trauma or CPTSD does not exist. (In fact, the internationally used diagnostic tool, the ICD-11, allows for the diagnosis of CPTSD.)
Trauma Triggers
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Because complex trauma occurs as the result of complex events, this often means that people with CPTSD have complex triggers. Essentially, a trigger is any stimulus that causes a person to remember the traumatic event or a portion of the traumatic event. Unfortunately, when it comes to trauma, remembering the traumatic event often feels like experiencing the traumatic event all over again.
This is why identifying triggers is crucial to trauma work. Knowing your triggers can help you manage your response or, in some cases, avoid having the response altogether if you can avoid the trigger. If, for example, you know that a certain aftershave triggers you, you can ask your intimate partner to not wear it. Or, if you know older males with mustaches are a trigger, you at least know what is happening to you and how to handle it when you encounter these people in your life.
The reality is, though, not all triggers are easily identifiable, even with acute or simple traumatic events. Triggers can be subtle and inconspicuous. They can be seemingly benign things that we didn’t even consciously realize were associated with the traumatic event. Our brains are also very good at generalizing. This means our brain may take a simple characteristic and generalize it excessively. Any loud noise can trigger you to the war zone, any male can make you feel trapped in your childhood nightmare.
Complex Triggers
Complex trauma often means that trauma was just part of life. It was an everyday experience that may have happened in multiple environments, with multiple people, during many different seasons and times. This means the potential for triggers is extremely large. And, just like the nature of the trauma, the nature of the triggers may be extremely complex as well.
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I realized this in my own life recently. If you read this blog or listen to our podcast, you will know that I have been doing trauma work for decades. I have successfully identified and processed many of my obvious triggers, and am now left with the more subtle and complex ones. This became especially apparent a few years ago when I was triggered by a coworker.
The situation between the coworker and myself became tense enough that we were both called into HR. I explained briefly about my history and how I knew that part of my actions were a triggered response. After all, I knew very well what it felt like to be triggered. The HR manager, being familiar with PTSD, tried to help me identify the specific trigger offering examples like scent or nearness. I knew right away that these were much too simple to explain what was happening. It has taken me about 5 years to narrow down what the trigger was.
Because I had previous issues with similar women in my life, I initially feared that the trigger was simply large women. I eventually realized, though, this was too broad. Perhaps it was large women who had authority over me. This got me a little closer. Eventually, I realized it was large women who had authority over me who were also generally displeased with their life choices, had low self-esteem and who did not respond to my natural tendency to people-please or fawn.
Even to me, this seems ridiculously layered. I was so used to my brain generalizing, I was not prepared for such narrow specificity. But there it was. A ridiculously complex trigger with multiple layers. Complex enough, I suppose, to match the complexity of the trauma I experienced.
Managing Triggers
Unfortunately, complex trauma also means multiple triggers as well. Complex ones and simple ones. Ones easy to identify and ones that are super hard to pinpoint. You can spend years (maybe even a lifetime) finding them. But finding them is important. Not just because it can help you manage your responses. But also because knowing your triggers can provide you with important clues you need to process the trauma they are taking you back to.
If you are new to trauma work and would like to know more about how to identify and manage your triggers and trigger response, I encourage you to buy our e-book: Managing Triggers: A Quick Guide to Help You Identify and Manage Trauma Triggers. This easy-to-understand book cuts through the bullshit and provides clear-cut information you need to start the process today.
If you have been on your healing journey for years and just need a little help pinpointing a complex trigger, this e-book can help with that as well. It includes a simple step-by-step process that can help you slow down and focus on the vital information you need to discover the base of that trigger.
Complex trauma means complex triggers. While they can be difficult to uncover, doing so can drastically improve your life. Not knowing your triggers can leave you feeling like a ship dashed upon the jagged rocks in a psychological storm. Knowing your triggers is the first step in learning to navigate that storm so that you can feel safe, sane, and in control of your destiny.
